You did what – act one

"You did what?"

Kovu smiled casually, or at least that was what he tried. Anyone who'd have been carefully watching, however, him could have told he was nervous. But Simba didn't watch him carefully; he didn't even bother to look in his general direction. He just kept staring north. Then, suddenly, he turned to Kovu, who further reinforced his smile. The aging but still very intimidating lion seemed to pierce Kovu with his bright eyes.

"Well, I have to say I didn't really expect that much initiative from you, but I like it nonetheless. It's about time we had some eyes at the border again, we've heard way too little for way too long about that area…"

"Indeed, I couldn't agree more. And Vitani was more than eager to do her duty for the pride," Kovu added, smiling still.

"Yes, I have to admit her services to the pride have been admirable, she fitted in better than I expected. And now she even scouts the border, on the lookout for our enemy… Quite frankly, I thought those scruffy mongrels had long since disappeared…"

"One can only hope," Kovu interrupted.

"… but we have to keep our vigilance, and I'm glad you did," Simba continued, "A king could not wish for a better son, and a pride could not ask for a better king."

By now, Kovu's jaws began to hurt from his deliberate smiling all the time; time for a serious remark so he could give his facial muscles some rest.

"Please, father, do not talk as if time had already caught up with us, the only king our pride needs, the only one it has, is you. I just do your bidding to the best of my abilities."

Simba stared at Kovu again, and for a moment, Kovu thought he had overdone it. Could the old lion see through his deceit?
But Simba remained oblivious, and averted his gaze again, this time to Kiara, who was sitting nearby. He then addressed Kovu again.

"Well, anyhow, you did a good job: it is good to know your sister is scouting the border for any scavengers. If you keep up this good work of yours, I'll die a happy lion. But now, if you'll excuse me, I'm taking some time alone with my daughter: I'm still not used to the idea of having to miss her for weeks on end, not even after all those months."

Kovu nodded, and Simba strode towards Kiara, who, before she acknowledged her father, turned to Kovu and silently formed the word 'liar' with her mouth. Kovu grinned, winked and took off, out of hearing distance.
When Enyi and her gang had given the rest of the pride their pathetic, highly unrealistic story about a leopard attacking their friend (thus causing her wounds), absolutely no-one had believed it, but only Kiara had been bold enough to confront Kovu with his shabby lie. As always, it didn't take long for her to squeeze the truth out of him, after which she had agreed to join the little 'conspiracy'. After all, since she had helped reunite the prides in a peacefull manner, Kiara was convinced a little bit of subtle diplomacy could about settle about anything. Unless her father joined in on the party that is, as diplomacy wasn't his strong point (though he had certainly been making progress); she couldn't really blame Kovu for wanting to keep Simba out of the whole hyena-agreement.

As he walked away from Simba and Kiara, Kovu spotted Enyi, who looked around suspiciously first, after which she addressed Kovu, her face locked in a seemingly everlasting expressionless stare.

"I'm glad you're a better liar than I am."

"Yeah, but you're still the best eavesdropper of 'em all. Private conversations are supposed to be private, if I'm not mistaken," Kovu grumbled.

"You're not mistaken, sir, but I was overly curious."

"Now that's something new, Enyi actually caring about something…"

Of course, Enyi didn't move a muscle or emitted a single sound that could indicate the slightest form of amusement.

"I just like to keep track of things. The game you're making me play here is not at all without risk, especially now that you've been lying to Simba square in the face."

"Talking about risk," Kovu sighed, "Vitani hasn't returned yet, has she?"

"No not yet. But it's only been a night, maybe she got delayed."

"Delayed how? The hyenas asking her out for lunch? Or brunch maybe?"

"Maybe she is lunch," Enyi suggested without the faintest sign of humorous intent.

"Not funny," Kovu frowned, fearing she was probably right.
How long could it take to persuade the hyenas to agree on Kovu's very tempting proposal? The deal was pretty sweet on the hyenas: they got limited hunting rights to the parts of the Pridelands controlled by the Outlanders during the day; and Kovu didn't ask anything in return, except for them to stay clear of the Pridelands controlled by Pridelanders, and avoid contact with any lions at all times. In effect, Kovu just legalised what they had probably been doing for quite some time without any authorisation. As such, didn't even have to agree on the deal, Vitani only had to inform them they got the day-shift all to themselves, without lions coming over to confiscate their kills, and the hyenas would probably not even have to alter their routine. Only thing they had to do was steer clear of Pridelanders, which they undoubtedly already did.

"I didn't intend it to be funny," Enyi noted.


Strange. Stranger than usual anyhow. I mean, it's not that unusual for something to wash up on the riverbank every now and then, but why oh why does it always have to happen at my drinking spot? Every time I need a drink some dead body turns up, two in this case. Yuk. Maybe I ought to migrate to a place without carcasses lying around everywhere; I just can't drink with that god-awful smell around. Not that these particular ones are that smelly, yet… Some scavengers better get rid of 'em soon or I'm outa here.

A small family of vultures slowly circled above their meal, not intent on munching in too fast for any meal could also be a trap. But there seemed to be nothing around but a bored cheetah, which yawningly looked at the vultures as they smoothly soared down, carefully manoeuvring their huge wings for a soft landing. Personally, the cheetah rather disliked vultures, and all other scavengers for that matter. Rough, nasty crowd. But he kept watching them nonetheless, knowing that seeing a lioness getting torn open by the birds would give him some satisfaction at least. If there had been hyenas as well to join in on the feast, however, the cheetah would've long since left: hyenas could, from time to time, act rather inappropriate, even when unprovoked. But now, it seemed as if the hyenas themselves were on the menu.
The first vulture landed only inches away from his meal, and then carefully made his way onto the body. Before pinching away the hyena's eyes, the bird decided it'd be best if he double-checked whether his meal was really dead one last time, however, as those hyena's yaws could easily rip the huge bird in half. The vulture viciously pecked the hyena's side, but before it got the chance to tear off a piece of flesh, the animal below him had already emitted a loud whoop, jumping up below the vulture. The bird quickly flapped his wings and took flight, only missing the hyena's teeth by an inch. The vultures that had amassed around the bodies simultaneously flew up as well, rising up in a chaotic flapping of wings.

The cheetah, shocked at the sudden revival of the presumed corpse, decided he'd stay and watch the show anyhow, even though the vultures hadn't had a chance to dig in on the lion. But now the hyena could feast on the lioness, and that would mean the show would become a bite more crunchy: all the more reason to keep watching. The awoken seemed to need some time to get back to his senses, however, as he almost immediately collapsed after having jumped up. The cheetah continued observing him.
After about one minute, the hyena got up again, though still a bit wobbly. As it looked around, seemingly confused, his eyes caught the sight of the cheetah, who tried keeping his cool as not to attract too much attention. But the hyena quickly lost interest in the bystander when he noticed the lion next to him. He then trotted towards her, falling down and getting up again halfway. For a moment he seemed to study the body in front of him, but then, in stead of the eating and bone-grinding the cheetah had expected, he just sat down next to her and laid down his head on her chest, after which he closed his eyes again as if he fell asleep.

Strange morning indeed. Why doesn't that miserable hyena eat her? He certainly looks like he needs a decent meal. Or why doesn't he just walk away, or why doesn't he do anything, except for what he's doing now? Guess I missed something here… It's safe to presume they washed up together, so they probably fell into the water together as well, but that still doesn't explain what I'm seeing here, now does it? Relationships between the two of their kinds are usually a bit more chill. Strange, strange... I wonder…


Pain. Darkness. Emptiness. No memories, no name, no hunger, no consciousness, only dark, empty pain. And a deep, everlasting silence. Or maybe not? For a moment it seemed like she could here a distant, muted whoop, nothing more than a vague sensation somewhere beyond the darkness. Then another sensation, but no sound this time… more like a faint touch. Then more pain again. As time passed by, time she could hardly come to grasp, her empty universe started filling up bit by bit. More sensations: a faint breeze, a touch of the warm morning sun, the soft caress of water. In time, even the darkness faded to make room for a succession of colours: first brown, then red, orange, yellow and finally a hellishly bright light. Her body came back again too, though only hair by hair and bone by bone it seemed. The pain remained however. Then suddenly, like thunder from a cloudless sky, it all came back: all memories, all recollections, all names, all faces, everything. Especially the chase and the ensuing fall. She tried to react to this sudden shock, but was unable to: although she had regained feeling in all of her body, her muscles didn't obey her yet. She noticed her mouth was open, not to mention dry, but she could hardly move her jaw. The best she could manage was lifting her eyelids. It took her an unusually long time to adjust her eyes to the light, but after a while, her vision was back again too. First thing she saw were two dark, fuzzy paws. She tried closing her mouth again, which was a success, but when she tried to utter a simple sentence, her abilities appeared confined to a silent groaning. That, however, sufficed to turn the two fuzzy paws into one fuzzy head.


After having taken a rest upon Vitani's chest, partly to check whether she was still alive and partially because he couldn't manage to stand upright for any longer, Vincent got up again, hindered by a nagging pain in his left-front paw. He seemed to have cut it open somewhere, and the cut was shallow enough not to be serious, but deep enough to be annoying. For a moment he considered his options: waiting, and waiting. Vitani was alive, but she still seemed to be incapacitated for a little while, so best he could do was wait: he wasn't going anywhere anyhow, not after what had happened earlier. Not on his own. For the time being he tried not to think about what had exactly happened on Priderock, but the obvious plot against him kept clouding his mind nonetheless. Who was in on it? Or who wasn't in on the plot? The only one he could trust was the one who had been targeted with him. The only one he could trust, for the time being was a lioness. Thinking about Vitani suddenly made Vincent realise she was producing some faint sounds. He bent over to have a look. Her eyes seemed to be open, though the sunlight seemed to hinder her.

"Hey Sunshine, you all right?

More groaning.

"Well, I guess that's something already. Yell when you're about ready to begin forming actual words."

Vincent walked around the lioness, sitting down against her back, resting his paws on her shoulder and his head on his paws.

"I do hope you don't mind."

"Jerk…" Vitani uttered slowly.

"Ah, you still remember me I see. Maybe it'd be best if I, while you are still unable to break my neck in a blind rage, stress the fact that I had nothing to do with whatever happened earlier."

"Yeah, I guessed as much…"

Vincent giggled, although he realised his present situation was far from desirable, let alone humorous.

"By the way, thanks for getting me out of the water earlier, I'm not a great swimmer," he added.

"My pleasure…" Vitani mumbled.

"Where are we anyway? I kinda lost track about when my head banged into a rock."

"Dunno, I just grabbed you and tried to get us ashore. But I'm pretty sure we're on the wrong side of the river... Exciting, no?"

"I've had my share of excitement for this year…" Vincent grumbled.

Vitani started laughing, as her pain started making way for relief.

"You wouldn't know how much I've missed this…" she suddenly smiled happily, after about a minute.

"Missed what?"

"This! Excitement, running for your life and talking it over while feeling absolutely mangled. Life! I've missed life!"

"Once you're born an outlander you'll die an outlander, I guess…" Vincent shrugged.

"You bet. This is your life too, isn't it? The hyenas', I mean. Don't you guys have to fight for it too? Really fight for a living, like we Outlanders had to do?"

"Yeah, but that doesn't mean I have to like it."

"Hey, you'd be surprised how quickly you're tired of the easy life," Vitani yawned, still laying down.

"At least you've had both lifestyles, some of us can't afford to be so picky…" Vincent grumbled, meaner than he intended, and he quickly realised.

"I'm sorry, I shouldn't have said that," he appologised

"No, you're probably right anyway…"

For a moment, both animals just stared out in front of 'em, tired and confused, until Vincent took the trouble of really looking around for once. He quickly noticed they were stranded on a small depression between three steep hills and the river, flowing by slowly as it was now deep and broad, as opposed to the thin rock-ridden wild waters they had been flushed through after they had plunged into the river. As he gazed south, he found himself looking upwards to be able to see the whole of the white passes, whose cloud-covered flanks seemed only a few kilometres away. That could only mean they were indeed on the wrong side of the river where he had never been before.
He suddenly noticed one of the hills surrounding them had some grass and trees on them, much more comfortable than the rock bed they were in now.

"Wouldn't you fancy lying down somewhere else? The sun is killing me, and having to sit on these nasty rocks ain't helping either," the hyena suggested.

"Sure… but first, I got to try getting up…" Vitani mumbled. With a tired groan, she got up, and both her and Vincent dragged themselves up the hill, to a spec of shade below a couple of low, thorny trees. Lying down again, they didn't notice the cheetah that had been discreetly following them. Vincent did see him, but didn't actually notice him as his thoughts were elsewhere: what had actually happened the previous evening?
Kali had tried to ice him, that he already knew, and if she had been the only one in on it, her motives would have been crystal clear: avenging her mother by killing the descendants of her murderer, a plain old blood feud. But she had mentioned Seko. And Shenya. Were they in on it too? But why? Shenya had beaten him up pretty nasty, yeah. But that's what she does: she beats you up, then leaves you be, and if you're lucky she'll apologize for it later. But Shenya, his own sister for crying out loud, a murderer? And he could hardly believe Seko had the stomach (let alone the authority) to order a hit. But Kali mentioned them, and it was neither her style nor fitting of her intelligence to blame someone else for her finest hour. Plus, she had also mentioned 'Shenya would break her neck on a lion's paw' or something, what the hell did she mean by that? As he contemplated on that, it suddenly hit Vincent. He knew why Shenya would have wanted him dead, and why Vitani taking the blame would have been so important, and what Kali could have meant. No… she wouldn't… Would she? She couldn't possibly try to… Suddenly, Vincents thoughts were interrupted by Vitani.

"So… what do we do now?"

"Huh? Stay here and chill out a bit longer for all I care…"

"Yeah… but after that?"

"I'll try getting home, and you'll probably do the same."

"You're kidding me right?" Vitani frowned, "You're not seriously considering going back to the same guys that tried to kill ya?"

"What other options do you think I have? It's not like you're relatives would be any less murderous if they met me. And I don't fancy wandering around in the wilderness all by my self, so that only leaves a trip back to the clan."

"Probably… So here's where our roads part?"

As he could tell from the look on her face, she wasn't really looking forward to that, and neither was Vincent, for some reason he could quite point out.

"Well, not at once, I mean, we still need to find a crossing and stuff…" Vincent argued.

"Then one of us will be making a detour, if we use the same route across the river."

"I doubt it…"

"Why, you plan on moving?"

No, but Shenya might, and she'd be taking the whole clan with her, Vincent had come to realise. And he already guessed what their new home would be. Better not to tell Vitani, as not to make her panicky… or hostile.

"No, eh, nothing… I'll tell you on the way to the crossing, hyena stuff, long story. Boring too," Vincent lied. As Vitani was still feeling like shed been thrown of a cliff, which happened to be the case, she didn't notice Vincent was lying time around, "Besides, we ought to get moving, I don't think there's a lot to eat around here, and It'd really suck starving, or having to eat one another…"

"Yuk," Vitani growled with mild disgust.

The cheetah, which was still watching them, suddenly had a hard time suppressing a loud yawn, and Vincent spotted him again. He turned to Vitani.

"You noticed that guy? I think he's been watching us all morning already. Come on, get up, let's remind him who's boss 'round here…"

"Why not," Vitani yawned, "Nothing like ventilating some anger upon an unsuspecting bystander."

That was, of course, easier said than done, as Vincent still limped a bit, and Vitani's muscles still felt as supple as limestone. Vincent reached the cheetah first, but to his amazement, the skinny predator didn't flee in panic, which it ought to have been doing.

"Ain't it about time you buggered off, you're looking awfully tired."

No response. Vincent positioned himself right in front of the big cat, and then exhaled his intolerably foul breath into the cheetah's face, which turned his head in disgust.

"Having problems with my dental hygiene, are we?"

"Not at all," the cheetah noted stoical, "I just couldn't help notice your breath stinks of death even more than your fur does."

His brutality and lack of being intimidated started annoying Vincent. Vitani sat down next to him.

"If you like what his mouth smells like, you'll really love the interior of my stomach. And from what I'm guessing, someone's haggling for a one way trip," Vitani smiled, so polite it became vicious. By now, the cheetah already seemed a bit more reluctant to defy then he had been earlier, cowering back a little bit. But the way he spoke still tasted a bit offensive.

"Comrades, I'd be the last one to criticize a bit of diversity. We've all got to do with the genes our parents gave us, now don't we? Even when it comes to very pronounced personal odours,"

"Look here, comrade, how 'bout telling us why you've been spying on us the whole morning, and you might even live to see a next dawn," Vitani suggested, getting a bit annoyed at the cheetah's defiance. As one could come to expect, the cheetah seemed to be the longer the less at ease.

"Now now, let's try leaving threats behind us for the time being… I was just being a bit curious: it's not every day you see a hyena and a lion having a polite chat…"

Though the cheetah had a point, Vincent felt he was a bit too much of a know-it-all.

"Are you going to tell us, the uncontested rulers of the plains, what we can and can't do?" Vincent grumbled.

Vitani wanted to make a vicious addition to that, but suddenly realized they were making a mistake trying to chase the cheetah off. Thus, she tried to calm it down a little.

"Us having a chat only comes to show we're actually nice guys, now don't it, Vincent? You're from around here, cheetah?"

"Judging by the way he's talking to us I'd say he's way off…" Vincent mumbled, not aware Vitani was trying to pacify the conversation.

"Well, do you or don't you know the area?" Vitani asked again, ignoring Vincent, who suddenly realized where she was going at. He didn't like it, but lacked a decent alternative and felt a bit rushed, so decided to go with it.

"Well, I wouldn't say I'm from around here. I'm a man of many places; I go where my paws take me. But I know my way 'round in these parts, if that's what you mean."

As she looked at him, Vitani could tell Vincent was still not fond of the idea, but as he didn't protest openly, she went ahead anyway, trying to enlist the cheetah.

"Look, it's just we're in a bit of a situation here… We washed up here by accident and we have to find a crossing. Problem is, we don't know our way around. So if you'd be nice enough to take us to a crossing…"

"And why would I do that, might I ask?"

"It'll benefit your life expectancy greatly," Vincent suggested, now smiling overly polite.

"So does running real fast. And I'm quite adept at that."

"Hey, I ain't stopping ya. Yet."

The cheetah grinned, and then nodded politely.

"Of course, leaving you two out here would be unfit to a gentleman. Plus, I'm always ready to help a fellow predator in need."

For a moment there, Vincent thought he noticed something strange in the cheetah's otherwise uncaring eyes, a sudden glimpse of cold and dark thoughts, immediately swept away by his ever present arrogance. Vincent hadn't liked the idea of him guiding them in the first place, and now found it even less appealing.

"I happen to know a crossing not too far from here. Only one problem though. It's on the other side of the passes."

"I do hope we can go round?" Vitani complained, as she couldn't begin to imagine what a hike over the White-Passes, a stretch of low mountains, could be like. But Vincent had realised they didn't have time for that. Not if he wanted to try and stop Shenya, which he still thought possible. The thought of what would happen if he wouldn't was enough to both make him forget about his initial distrust for the cheetah and his gut-feeling he had about crossing the passes.

"We ain't got time to go 'round. Can you get us over them passes?" Vincent quickly asked.

The cheetah smiled, for the first time that day, and before Vitani could ask why Vincent was in a hurry all of a sudden, the cheetah answered Vincent, his eyes again showing a faint touch of frost and gloom.

"Why yes, that was what I had in mind from the start… I'll take you both to the passes, and over them."